Web3forGood is a media community that celebrates and critically analyzes how emerging web3 technology could be used to make the world a better place.
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The stories we’re tracking this week point to the tension at the heart of web3. Stripe’s new Tempo chain signals a push for speed and mass adoption, while Hyperliquid’s stablecoin contest shows how control over money’s base layer shapes who benefits. An exciting thing we discovered: The TIG Foundation is experimenting with directing decentralized computation toward real-world challenges like renewable energy. At the same time, speculative tokens minted after a violent tragedy remind us that openness without norms can slip into exploitation.
Together these moments sketch the outlines of a larger question. What kind of culture do we want to build as this technology scales, and how do we ensure that freedom is matched with responsibility?
WAGMI (we are going to make an impact!)
What’s Inside
📚 What We’re Thinking About
📣 Latest News
🔈 Watch & Listen
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
🎪 Events
📡 On Our Radar
✨ And One More Thing
📚 What We’re Thinking About
💦 Hyperliquid
It’s all over the (crypto) news this week. For the uninitiated, Hyperliquid is a fast-growing platform for trading that wants to launch its own stablecoin called USDH*. Right now, most of Hyperliquid’s markets run on the USDC stablecoin, which is basically crypto’s default dollar. Hyperliquid put out an open call asking big players to pitch for the chance to create and manage USDH, and the lineup is stacked. Names like Paxos, Frax, Ethena, and Sky (the project that spun out of MakerDAO) are all in the mix. Validators on Hyperliquid will decide who wins, and the choice could shift how billions of dollars move through crypto. (*If you want to get in the technical weeds, what’s actually happening is that Hyperliquid has reserved the ticker USDH and invited outside teams to compete for the right to issue it).
Why does this matter if you’re not deep in DeFi? Stablecoins are the quiet engine that powers almost everything in crypto. Whoever controls USDH will also decide what to do with the money it earns on reserves… which could be a lot. Most proposals would put that cash back into their tokens or reward users, but some are thinking bigger. Sky pledged tens of millions to grow the broader ecosystem, which could mean developer grants, tooling, and integrations. Native Markets suggested an Assistance Fund that points toward more community-oriented distribution. Paxos has hinted at bringing in its partnerships with PayPal and other mainstream payment rails, which could be a big step toward real-world consumer adoption. These alignments show that the winner won’t just decide tokenomics but could shape how USDH connects to both crypto-native and mainstream financial systems and how stablecoin revenue could start to fund shared infrastructure instead of just enriching token holders.
For Web3ForGood readers, this is worth paying attention to. The fight over USDH is really a fight over who benefits from crypto’s base layer of money. If stablecoin yield is treated as a commons, it could seed the projects, protocols, and communities that keep the space healthy long term. If it’s only used for buybacks and short-term rewards, we risk reinforcing the same extractive cycles that crypto was meant to move beyond. The outcome here is a preview of whether new financial rails can evolve into public goods engines, or whether they’ll just recreate Wall Street.
🚀 Proof-of-Work as Progress
Scrolling the timeline this week, we came across a post from CryptoEconLab about their new Energy Grid Optimization Challenge. The premise is simple and smart: design an algorithm that can manage a fleet of batteries across a power grid, balancing price swings and physical constraints to make the whole system run smoother. Succeeding = creating a future where renewable energy can plug in at scale without the grid buckling under volatility.
The challenge is backed by the (new-to-us) TIG Foundation, short for The Innovation Game. TIG is building a new kind of protocol that treats algorithms as the frontier of innovation. Instead of proof-of-work chewing up energy on arbitrary puzzles, TIG’s system channels that effort into open competitions where innovators create algorithms, benchmarkers test and rank them, and rewards flow to the best breakthroughs. It’s a way of turning decentralized computation into a global engine for progress across fields like AI, climate, cryptography, and beyond.
What’s exciting is the bigger picture. Some of the biggest leaps in technology have come from algorithmic breakthroughs. With hardware gains slowing, humanity’s next advances may depend on exactly this kind of work. TIG is betting that if we can align incentives correctly, we can turn the collective intelligence of the world into a commons for solving real problems, whether that’s integrating clean energy or building the next generation of scientific tools. It feels like a glimpse of what web3 can be when it looks outward, not inward.
🌀 Tempo Culture Clash
Stripe and Paradigm just dropped Tempo, a payments-first EVM chain built for speed and predictability. It’s not an Ethereum L2, and with a lineup that includes Visa, Shopify, DoorDash, Anthropic, and Mercury, they don’t need to play by crypto’s usual rules.
That’s exactly why it’s stirring debate. To Ethereum loyalists, a curated validator set and corporate governance feel like abandoning decentralization, the core value that defined this space for a decade. To most future users though, none of that matters. If payments are fast, cheap, and stable, they’ll happily onboard through Stripe without ever touching MetaMask.
Tempo marks a cultural crossroads. Will crypto be led by decentralization and community values, or by mass adoption led by corporate rails?
🕊 Freedom, Responsibility, and Tokenized Violence
In the aftermath of the shooting of US conservative activist Charlie Kirk, new crypto tokens appeared within hours trying to capitalize on the tragedy. Names like “Justice for Charlie” and “RIPCharlieKirk” were minted and pumped, with some briefly hitting multi-million dollar market caps before collapsing just as quickly. None of them had substance or ties to the actual people involved. They were speculative plays on grief and violence, designed to capture attention and extract profit from outrage.
This raises hard questions about cultural norms in web3. Decentralization makes it possible for anyone to create a token instantly, and that freedom is powerful. But when violent or traumatic events become material for financial speculation, the line between expression and exploitation is thin. Who benefits when tragedy becomes tradable? Who is harmed when grief is tokenized for profit?
The openness that makes web3 powerful also means there will be actors who use that freedom in ways that feel exploitative or harmful. We cannot expect to eliminate these moments without giving up the very qualities that make the system resilient and censorship-resistant in the first place, but what we can do is shape culture. We can set norms, build values, and create spaces where exploitation is called out and where the same tools are directed toward healing, solidarity, or funding true public goods.
For those committed to using this tech for good, this is a challenge to take seriously. If we want decentralization to be more than a license for speculation, we need to think carefully about how communities respond when harm is tokenized. The industry must end the commodification of tragedy and mature into an ecosystem that pairs freedom with responsibility.
Plus:
🛠️ Worldbuilders at Work: “The Tech Workers Movement (TWM) plays a vital role in advancing technoprogressivism—a political worldview that embraces technological innovation while insisting on democratic governance and equitable distribution.” (Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies).
🤖 People are starting to believe that AI is conscious: “The question of whether AI is truly conscious, while important, may obscure an equally significant issue: people are already attributing consciousness to it.” (The Collective Intelligence Project).
🗳️ Liberland's citizenship law passed with zero vetoes: “Every citizen onboarded to Liberland Blockchain had the power to vote against. NONE used it.” (@liberland_org).
🛒 Merchants in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum, can now buy and restock goods entirely with Bitcoin: “We’re launching a bold new campaign: Restock with Bitcoin, Not Fiat!” (@AfribitKibera).
📣 Latest News
Celo distributes the first batch of Proof of Impact S1 Rewards
Nasdaq files with the SEC to allow tokenization and blockchain listing of stocks
Global Policy, Regulation, and Adoption News
Belarusian President backs crypto and cash adoption to navigate sanctions
Kyrgyzstan introduces state crypto reserve concept in new bill
Vietnam launches 5-year crypto market pilot with strict controls
Kazakhstan’s president calls for national crypto reserve, digital asset law by 2026
El Salvador celebrates Bitcoin milestone with symbolic 21 BTC purchase
India resists full crypto framework, fears systemic risks, document shows
Legislation Steering U.S. Fate of Crypto Emerges in New Version in Senate
US SEC crypto task force to tackle financial surveillance and privacy
🔈 Watch & Listen
Crypto Altruists Podcast - Episode 218 -Hype, Harm, or Hope? AI & Blockchain at the Crossroads of Human Coordination and Global Impact
GoodDollar - GoodBuilder's Monday Workshop: Project Marketing 101 with Tereza Bizkova
🚀 Opportunities & Calls to Act
Apply: The Bitcoin Policy Institute is hiring a Government Affairs Associate and a Program Associate.
Apply: The Foresight Institute is hiring multiple positions.
Funding: The Award for Ongoing Doctoral Dissertation Research in Technoprogressivism from The Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies’ awards PhD candidates whose research explores technoprogressivism—interpreted broadly across philosophy, STS, AI ethics, neuroethics, bioenhancement, tech policy, and related areas. Applications are now open.
Review: Octant launched a competitive security review for Octant v2 vaults on Cantina; there's $60,000 on the table for anyone who can spot bugs, edge cases, and tighten up Octant’s security. If you’re a security researcher or just enjoy finding security bugs in your free time, check it out.
Hack: HackReFi is a multi-phase buildathon from Recife to COP30 in Brazil for climate action solutions leveraging web3 and AI.
Hack: RealFi Hack from Funding the Commons is a global virtual hackathon bringing together builders creating practical solutions to real problems. Registration is open now.
Build: The Funding the Commons 2025 Builder Residency is a three-week immersive program designed to support collaboration and experimentation in the public goods and blockchain space.
Visa Support: Going to Argentina for Devcon and need a visa? All Devconnect participants can apply to a special visa program for a smoother application process.
🎪 Events
🆕= New to the roundup this week
Virtual
Regen Coordination Office Hours are happening September 16. 🆕
BLI Global Summit on Digital Assets, Blockchain & Technology For Consumers is happening October 23. 🆕
The Future of Digital Finance: Emerging opportunities in India, in China and on the African continent is happening September 24-25.
The Web We've Built from the Internet Archive is happening October 22.
IRL
ETHSafari is happening September 7-14 in Nairobi.
ETHBoston is happening TODAY September 12 in Boston. 🆕
DeSci Boston 2025 at MIT Media Lab is happening September 13 in Boston.
Edge City Bhutan is happening September 14-21 in Paro, Gelephu, Thimphu, and other locations in Bhutan.
The Real-World Asset Summit is happening September 16-17 in NYC.
PGP* for Crypto Briefings and Roundtable Discussion is happening September 17 in DC.
Africa Money & DeFi Summit West Africa is happening September 24-25 in Accra, Ghana.
ETHGlobal New Delhi is happening September 26-28 in New Delhi.
BTC in D.C. is happening September 30 - October 1 in DC.
Chain for Impact : Nouvelles Pratiques de Générosité is happening October 9 in Paris. 🆕
The Aptos Experience is happening October 15-16 in NYC.
Progress Conference 2025 is happening October 16-19 in Berkeley.
Doors Open 2025: Go Behind–the-Scenes at the Physical Internet Archive is happening October 21 in San Francisco.
Zebu Live is happening October 21-22 in London.
The London Blockchain Conference is happening October 22-23 in London.
FIL Dev Summit 7 @ DevConnect is happening November 13 in Buenos Aires.
LabWeek Web3 by Protocol Labs is happening November 13-19 in Buenos Aires. 🆕
Devconnect 2025 is happening November 17-22 in Buenos Aires.
ETHBoulder is coming in 2026…
Recurring
Monthly Earth Day is a global event that happens on the 22nd every month, not just once a year. Get involved next on September 22.
📡 On Our Radar
Web3 Certifier, a GoodBuilder project, is a blockchain examination platform to create and take exams in order to earn NFTs and crypto.
Blockchain Legal Institute Tools (BLI tools) is a globally centralized library to research decentralized resources re AI, Bitcoin, Eth protocols, blockchain uses, news, events, laws, classes & more.
Oboe is a generalized AI-powered learning platform that lets anyone instantly create courses to learn about any topic in a more personalized, efficient, and fun way.
The Innovation Game (TIG) redefines the frontier of computational research by transforming proof-of-work into a global engine for open, autonomous innovation.
✨ And One More Thing
